Inbetween
by XLarkaX
Summary: Ana didn't ask to be the protector or balance of dark and light, and it seems like her heart has a hard time deciding between the two also, what direction will her journey take her? Riku/OC?
1. Chapter 1

Ana's eyes fluttered open as the sound of singing met her ears. As she turned over in her warm bed and pushed her Yorkie further down towards her feet, she slapped the oversized snooze button and groaned. She needed a minute, well more than a minute considering she had the same weird dream again for the third night in a row. It was so vivid while sleeping but when she woke, she just couldn't get her head wrapped around it. Not to mention it felt like she had gotten no sleep. Her brown eyes slowly began to close and she felt sleep upon her again but was abruptly interrupted but a big wet tongue sliding across her face.

"Good morning dingo." She said to her red cattle dog who was sitting up looking straight at her with a wild look in his eyes. Skooter groaned as she finally pushed the Yorkshire off the bed. He glared at her. "Don't look at me, Hunter was the one so eager to get up." She pushed her long brown hair out of her face and exited her room and opened the door to her apartment to let the dogs out.

A frigid breeze swept smoothly around her and she shivered as it sent chills all the way from her fingertips to her spine. "I miss the summer." Was all she said as she called her dogs back. Eager to warm up, she was glad that her roommate had left early and she hopped in the shower, letting the warm water race through her body and awaken her mind.

Once she was dressed in her school clothes, she ate breakfast and ran out the door with her dogs behind her. They were going to the daycare today. It was off to school for another hectic day. She groaned again for the second time that morning just thinking about it. She loved learning, she had a strong passion for knowledge and she couldn't be happier but some days she just wanted to stay in bed and never get up. Life hadn't been easy for her, her family had died when she was young and she had been put through the ringer, taking care of herself, growing up way to fast. When she finally turned 16 and proved she could hold down a job and go to school full time, the court had granted her permission to live on her own in a house an old family friend rented to her for really cheap

As she drove down the streets after dropping her dogs off at the daycare, she noticed something odd. The streets that were bustling with cars only minutes before had seemed to disappear and the voice from her dream softly floated through her mind.

_**Darkness is coming, consuming hearts and reeking chaos.**_

Panic shot through her as she continued to drive the almost deserted streets.

Just as she rounded the corner to her school, her heart stopped and all time seemed to slow down. She parked her car in the middle of the street and slowly got out of her vehicle. The sight before her eyes stole her breath and she watched a giant black hole consume the giant school. She barley heard the thunder and the cries and screams of the people nearby as the wind picked up and creatures emerged from the ground. "holy hell, demons are upon us." She said sarcastically to herself.

But her sarcasm soon faded as she looked at her car being devoured by darkness and more yellowed eyed creatures popped out of the ground. "Ok not good." She said running to the gas station across the street from her. She grabbed the door handle and slammed it shut, surprised to see her good friend watching from the window, as people outside either ran for cover or were devoured by the tiny bug eyed freaks.

"Ana." The tall girl said, there was defiantly fear in her eyes.

"Lea, It's madness out there. I don't understand what is going on." The clouds grew darker and the creatures many more. Butterflies grew in Ana's stomach and before with girl could move out of the way, a car came slamming into the glass window where they were watching the destruction. Ana grabbed Lea and both girls fell to the ground, glass surrounding both of them, cutting deep into their arms. The car only feet from them, the driver had turned into a creature._**Heartless**_**. **The voice wisped through her thoughts. Ana shook her head, _Where is that voice coming from? _

"Lea. Are you o.k.? " She got up and glanced over to Lea and doubled back in surprise. She was heading for the door and she ran outside! Ana didn't understand until she saw Lea's sister, cornered by the black things. Her blood ran cold and fear for her friends life struck her "Lea!" she yelled and followed the girl out the door. The moment she stepped out the voice rang in her head, this time not soothing and louder than ever. Her vision blurred and she was falling into blackness.

She opened her eyes not long later to find herself laying on a glass platform With intricate designs on them, including a sleeping version of her. She stood.

_**Two blades, one controls light, and the other dark. A third key, neither light nor dark to maintain balance. A heart as indecisive as the blade, must it protect the light?**_

Ana freaked out a little on the inside for the second time that day, but she swallowed her fear and courage swelled in her chest. A sword, in the shape of a key formed in her hand. The top shaped in a key form, only sharp points came out of each tip, and the hilt intricately formed in the shape of a star. It started silver at the tip and as the color found it's way down the blade, it turned dark purple and blue.

_**The journey will be long, the battles hard**_

A shadow creature formed from the ground.

_**Are you ready?**_

The voice asked. Ana swung the blade in fury at the creature and it disappeared in a flurry of smoke, a heart rising to the sky. The glass shattered beneath her feet but no sound escaped her lips as she fell screaming.

Ana picked herself up off the asphalt and hurried to her friend, only to be stopped by the shadows. Once again the keyblade was in her possession. She hacked her way through the wave and almost made it to her friend, her legs carrying her on the wind but not seconds later she met the wall and heard a crack as her head hit the bricks. "Lea." She whispered, fighting the dancing black dots before her eyes. Trying to stand, she fell back over a wave of nausea and dizziness the only thing stopping her from saving her friend. She heard her scream, saw the crowed of blackness upon her and then everything was silent as she fell through the darkness again, this time, letting it carry her into the deepest depths of her heart.

Two souls were looking up to the sky "Look! A star's goin' out!" A dog named Goofy said to his duck friend Donald.

"And another one!" Donald said pointing up the second blinking light in the sky "Come on. Let's hurry." Goofy, Donald and Pluto continue on down the road. "Where's that key?" Donald asks

"Hey, ya know, maybe we ought to go find Leon." Goofy suggested. If only he know how right he was. Goofy watched as Pluto wandered in the opposite direction that they were heading

Pluto was at Soras feet, wagging his tail and licking his face, causing the blue eyed boy to open his eyes.

"What a dream..." He asks…

Floating, floating in the darkness, there was nowhere to go, but she didn't want to go anywhere anyways. Peacefulness, was that a light? She covered her eyes, the interrupting light turned in to interrupting voices and she opened her eyes. Immediately remembering the darkness Ana shot straight up "LEA!" she yelled, only to be forced back down by a firm hand. She understood why as her world began to spin out of control.

"Take it easy kid. Looks like the heartless did you in pretty good" A man with a scar across his face said.

"It's Ana gramps." She said sighing. His face turned red and angry as a girl dressed as a ninja laughed in the corner.

"What's so funny?" he asked crossing his arms

"That's the second time today Leon." She smiled and walked over to Ana. "The name's Yuffie." She extended her hand in greeting.

"Ana." she said slightly confused and not taking her hand. "If you don't mind me asking, where the heck am I and how did I get here?" Just as Leon was about to answer her, a boy with spiky brown hair entered the room.

"Hi Sora!" Yuffie said excited, having already met the Keyblade master just minutes before

"Sora sit, I will tell you everything" Leon gestured to the bed Ana was laying on. She slowly sat up and allowed the short boy to sit next to her. He exchanged a smile and she felt warmth spreading through her, like he may have been a close friend once upon a time.

"I must have hit my head harder than I thought." She mumbled to herself.

Sora glanced over at the key shaped object.

"The Keyblade, we had to take it away from you to shake off those creature, that's how they were tracking you." Yuffie said

"It was the only way to conceal your heart from them, but it wont work for long. It's hard to believe that you of all people are the chosen one." They both looked at Lean, very confused.

"Sora, Ana. Ana, Sora. Good now that introductions are done I will tell you what you two are doing here."

"About time." Ana said sarcastically. Leon glared at her and picked up the key blade that was propped against the wall. As soon as it was in his possession it disappeared and found its way into Sora's lap

"I guess beggars cant be choosers" Leon said

"How about you start making sense! What's going on here?" Sora asked confused. Ana glanced over at him, she knew his frustrations.

They explained about the worlds being a secret and finding new pathways, they explained how the heartless attacked Sora and that was their enemy, but Sora didn't get it

"Those without hearts. The darkness in people's hearts—that's what attracts them. And there is darkness within every heart." Leon said. Sora and Ana nodded, taking in as much information as they could. Leon went on to explain about Ansem and how his work was scattered around the worlds Little did they know that in the room next to them, this same story was being explained to their future friends.

Leon had a lot of ,explaining to do as he continued, the heartless feared the key blade and Sora sat in shock as he thought about his island and Riku and Kairi. "I have to find them."

"Yuffie, lets join Aerith, I'm sure she is there with the other visitors.

"Wait, so why did I end up here and my friends didn't?" she asked interrupting Leon.

"Simple." Was all he said. Taking out his gun blade he charged at Sora. her heart began to race and panic shot through her. Before Sora's blade could even appear, she had blocked Leon with the same blade she held only hours before.

"Are you mad?" Ana asked

"If only you were here thirty minutes ago, I'm sure Sora would have appreciated it." He finished. Sora glared ever so slightly, remembering their encounter earlier that night. A heartless appeared in the small room, and once again they moved farther and farther away from Donald and Goofy as they jumped out the window after it, and before they knew it, Ana, Sora and Leon were walking through Traverse Town, fighting the small heartless on the way, Leon explaining more about what Ana was and needed to do. "Naturally, her blade is used to protect whoever bears the key blade, may it be light or dark, you could call her the guardian of the blades."

"Wow, totally didn't sign up for this one." she said knocking down another "Shadow" as Leon had called them.

"Your heart has been connected by the key, It chose you." He said walking on as Sora blocked an attack from another heartless, it seemed like there was more now after they entered the second district. "Your key also controls the balance between darkness and light, making sure that one doesn't over power the other, But also making sure that the one with the Keyblade doesn't fail at his purpose. So you could also call yourself the Balance"

"Ha! That's a good one." Ana laughed to herself. Leon didn't seem to find it funny. He sliced another heartless.

"Go find who is controlling them." Sora nodded and Ana followed, she supposed it was her duty, not that she was complaining. She was always up for a little adventure.

It didn't take long for them to get lost, She didn't know how seeing as this was such a small town but the more heartless they fought, the more Ana was getting frustrated. But something caught her eye… Sora was sitting on the ground, exhausted from all the battling. Ana finished off the last heartless and walked over to him."You know, you pretty lazy." She teased.

"Hey." Was all he said, the look in his eyes told her he was somewhere else at the current moment.

"I'm going to check out what's over here." She said turning in the opposite direction. Sora went to get up but she just waved her hand in the air. "I'll just be a minute."

Ana summoned her blade and walked cautiously around the corner, not surprised to be met by a young boy

"I figured you would show up." He said, arms crossed. Ana raised her blade in offense and walked towards him. So far she didn't like his attitude, she knew people like this back in her home world and they never got along.

"Mind telling me why you are following us? She said, staring at him. For some reason she felt like she knew him and the same feeling swept through her, the one she had when she had met Sora for the first time.

"I don't feel a need to justify my actions." He said flatly.

"Then whom may I have the pleasure of beating into a puddle of patheticness?" She asked, giving him the, _your way to full of yourself_ look. He was taken aback by the intensity of her words.

"Those are some dark words coming from you." He said. But the determination in her dark brown eyes wiped all resentment towards Ana away from the boy. He smirked at her and walked in her direction, but she didn't lower her key blade until he sighed and sat down on the stone ground.

"Your something else you know that? You remind me of my best friend in a way." He said, the tone of his voice had completely changed, what once was defensive was now light and soft, making their way inside Ana's heart. _Why must I feel all soft and cuddly.?_ She asked herself, it usually wasn't her forte and in all honestly, she didn't like it.

She followed his aqua eyes to the sky, staring up at all the stars, the moon caught his silver hair just right and a sudden realization smacked her down from the world she had just been standing on.

"My name is R-"

"Riku." She cut him off. Sora had only talked about him and Kiari all the time, and she had only met him a couple of hours ago. She mentally kicked herself and watched as her stick figure self fall off a cliff.

"How did you know?" He asked, a little annoyed his introduction was cut short. Ana sensed something from him. It was almost suffocating, but familiar, it made her breath stop, but she almost welcomed it, and all the same, she felt a pull towards him, something in her heart wanted to be near him. But at the same time, she felt Sora was pulling her closer.

"Oh you know, I can totally read your mind." She said more to herself, trying to figure out what she was feeling. She didn't like it, but it almost felt right to her. Riku had a puzzled look on his face. Ana laughed when she looked at him "Wow I was kidding." She said, thinking that he took it literally. "Anyways, my name is Ana." She held out her hand. Riku took it in his. It was warm and friendly

"I know." He said. She sighed and took a seat on the ground against the wall across from him, tired from her days work. She didn't even question how Riku knew who she was.

"So, why haven't you come out? Sora has been talking about you, I'm sure he would like to know you are safe "

"Nah, Sora? Worried? I can't picture it." He looked over in her direction, jealousy was written deep within his heart, Ana also sensed this, but she still couldn't put her finger on the previous feelings she felt before, so she just smiled. "Besides, I have to find Kairi." He finished.

"I'm sure we could help." she knew how happy Sora would be if they could search for Kairi together. But his attention was on something completely different , he reminded her a lot of Sora. He had seen something down the ally, turning the corner and Ana caught it too as she watched a black robe disappear behind another wall.

"Well, it looks like I have to go." He said, a completely different tone in his voice. It was almost hateful. Ana flinched and before she could get up, he had taken off down the street and into a shadowed ally.

"That was weird." She said to herself, getting up to find Sora. Coming back the sight was astounding, a dog and a duck lay on top of him, and they seemed surprised by what they found, but before the three could exchange introductions, a band of heartless appeared. "Sora!" Ana shouted running to his side. She were beginning to hate the little soldier guys, and already annoyed by the new arrivals Ana quickly hashed her way through the small wave. "Do they ever stop coming?" She said out of breath.

"Uh, Ana." Sora said looking up.

"What now!" She asked and turned around, only to find a giant armor heartless towering above her. "Great! I guess I got my answer." She looked over at Sora who gave her a playful smile. Once again her blade appeared in her hands. Ana looked at Sora confidently and nodded to the two strangers. "You guys ready?" She asked

"Bring it on." Said the dog.

"I think we should take out its arms and legs first." Sora added in, Ana nodded and followed as he charged in. The fight went on forever. Sora had finally gotten a leg out when the other came over and kicked him back. Out of an unknown reflex, Ana jumped in front of him as Guard Armors leg came around for a second time, raising her blade up in defense, she was pushed backward slightly and the heartless was pushed of guard. It was then that it hit her that this fantasy type world she was in was not like her world back home, where things like this happened in video games, and the endings wouldn't always be happy, dying was really dying.

"Come on Sora." She said helping him up off the ground. The tiny duck and the dog were doing their best while they had the advantage. "We almost have him." Ana's reassurance brightened his attitude.

"Ok let's finish this." Sora ran back at the heartless, attacking it relentlessly , and eventually, they were down to the body. It spun in the air, covering its ground and the four tried to stay out of its path. Ana's nerves were on end at how dangerous this was and how close it was coming to Sora. She didn't understand why she was so protective of him but the feeling grew with every passing moment.

Ana saw it coming, Sora had turned his attention away for one second and she was half way across the street, and she watched, horrified as the heartless charged at Sora. "Sora!" she yelled for the second time that afternoon, trying to grab his attention and running as fast as her legs could carry her. She was irritated at how often he was caught off guard. Shouldn't he be paying more attention, He was the keyblade master after all. She dove into him, as if the wind had carried her on its wings and took the blunt of the blow from the heartless. They were both sent flying backward and when they hit a nearby wall, the wind was knocked from Ana.

Sora jumped from her arms and went to help up his guardian, whose legs and lungs protested as she got up. "Ana, are you ok?" He asked with concern in his blue eyes.

"There is no time for this. We need to finish this fight and quick, I'm tired of being thrown around." Her voice was aggravated . The heartless were coming again, with Duck and Dog following close behind. "You two!" she called out to them. "On the count of three." They nodded back at her. "One, Two, Three!" And they all attacked at the same time. The heartless disappeared in a matter and a giant heart rose towards the night sky.

"That was a close one.' Sora breathed out.

"No kidding" was all Ana could say. She just wanted to sit down, but Sora ran off again.

Ana joined Sora and the two strange animals after the fight, they were talking with Leon again. A sudden movement in the corner caught her eye. But she listened on to the conversation.

"So, you were looking for me?" Sora said as she stepped into the circle of people.

"Yup," Duck and Dog both said together.

"They too were seeking the wielder of the key blade." Leon interjected.

"Obviously." Ana said flatly. So far, she didn't like Leon very much. Sora threw her a glare. "What? Don't glare at me, I saved your ass back there multiple times."

"Hey, you could come to other worlds with us." The dog spoke, Ana rolled her eyes, Sora wasn't even litstening. _Talking animals… why didn't I notice before, and why am I the only one here that thinks it odd?"_ Ana asked herself, in fear this time Sora's eyes would shoot laser beams at her if she spoke. She listened on. Sora's smile faded and she felt sorry for him

"Maybe I can find Riku and Kairi…" He said somewhat to himself. Ana looked away, she didn't have the heart to tell him she had already met up with Riku and he was on his merry way around town.

"Sure!" the Duck said

"Are you sure?" The Dog asked him.

"Who knows? But we need him to help find the key."

Leon spoke up again. "Sora, go with them if you want to find your friends." He said

"I guess." Sora sighed. Ana at that point saw Lea's face flash before her eye and worry washed over her, but not wanting to strike questions, she kept It to herself. She put her hand on Sora's shoulder, quietly acknowledging that she understood.

"But you cant come along looking like that. No frowning, no sad face." The Duck said. Even though he was being extremely nice, he annoyed Ana to no end.

"Ya, you have to look funny, like us!" The dog said. Ana coughed in the backround, trying to disguise the laugh she was so desperately wanting to let out. Sora made a funny face and everyone laughed.

"Ok, I guess I'll come along." Sora said. Ana watched as a figure paced in the shadows.

"Donald Duck."

"Goofy."

"Sora. And this is Ana" He introduced her as well. Riku appeared from the shadows. Ana knew it was him all along. Sora told Riku about his key blade and his new friends all the while Ana felt more jealousy build up in the older boy.

"I'm going to look for Kairi." He said. Sora offered for him to come along. Riku smiled, but it was directed towards Ana. She couldn't help but blush over it. She was almost glad Donald had turned the attention away from them until she heard what he was saying.

"No way!" Donald said. Ana was at the point of slapping him. She wanted Riku there with them. For some reason she felt it was the right thing to do.

"Why not!"She tried to argue with the duck,

"Because!" Donald yelled.

"That's not a real answer." but it was hopeless, and she had to follow Sora. Her heart was in a bind and she felt part of it rip away as she watched the silver hair boy storm off, disappearing for what would be a long time. Ana knew he was going to someone, and she felt that same suffocating feeling she had earlier as a dark portal appeared from nowhere. _Darkness_ she thought to herself, identifying the feelings she was sensing. Once the portal disappeared, Ana's heart felt half empty, like someone had taken the other half and ran off. She pushed the feeling back.

Ana turned around and ran into Sora. "You ok?" he asked, catching her in his arms. She took a second to assess herself. She was beyond tired and was finding herself sore from all the fighting and being knocked around, her head was pounding. Then she blushed and pushed herself away from him.

"I'm fine, really I am." She said stepping away. Sora gave her a concerned look before speaking again. He really was sweet, and she didn't understand why she was so irritated with him earlier, here, in this moment, all of it seemed to melt away.

"We should go and say goodbye to everyone before we leave." Sora said, starting to walk back to the house. Ana, Donald, and Goofy all agreed. Goofy and Donald taught Sora some neat tricks and in the process Ana learned a few things herself about attack powers and defense. Yuffie looked at Ana with something like suspicion

"You need a new pair of clothes to travel in." She said looking at her worn out school clothes. She disappeared from the room and came back with a bag of clothes. Ana gave her a smile and left to change. She came back and looked stunning, her brown hair was pulled up into a side braid that laid gently on her shoulder, she was dressed in black cargo pants, with two belts, one black and one green, hanging from the loops across her legs, creating and "X" form. On her top she had a from fitting dark green tank that rested just above her midriff. She had a necklace in the form of a Keyblade, the same Keyblade she was wielding. On her arms were intricate designed black bands, two on one side and one on the other and black and green bracelets on each wrist. She looked good. Ana thanked Yuffie and Leon, Cid and Arieth said their goodbyes. Before they knew it, they were taking off in the gummi ship.

Ana stared out the window as stars flew by her. All the happiness she had felt earlier had disappeared, as if something came along and forcefully sucked it out of her. Lea and her sister were on her mind. She wanted to know they were all ok, that they hadn't turned into the heartless creatures she was so easily slaying. But her thoughts turned even darker as Riku made an appearance. There was something about him. It was hostile, she wanted to save him, but she didn't know from what. Was it from darkness? Or from some certain doom? Darkness…Her mind was swimming in depths unimaginable, deeper and deeper, the more she dwelled on the subject the more she felt herself slip away, the light was fading and she was drowning.

She felt something. A pair of warm hands, a soft voice, someone was calling her, calling her back from the depths of darkness. Ana woke with a jolt and found herself still in the gummi ship. "Sorry to scare you, but we are landing." Sora stood in front of her. The dark feeling had disappeared and she stretched to get up. Still sore from the battle, she groaned. All she wanted was a break, and they had barley started this journey. It wasn't the most pleasant landings but it beat all out crashing.


	2. Alice

**I'm still getting used to using this website. But here is chapter two in the adventure. Usually I wont get them out this quick but i had most of this one written already. Please keep in mind as you read this that this world, and the Little Mermaid, are my least favorite in the game, so they might be a little short and may have some plot holes. ^_^;; Enjoy!**

ALICE

Falling again, this time through a strange tunnel. Ana was getting sick of all the falling and was happy when she met the ground, watching a white rabbit run away mumbling about being late and something about losing his head. _Sounds like fun_ She looked over to her new friends and smiled. "Shall we?" she asked gesturing towards the door. But what was on the other side surprised them all. The room seemed to be normal size, but the only door in the room was smaller than Ana's thumb.

"I don't think we are going to get through there." Goofy stated. Sora looked at his friends and walked up to the door.

"Um excuse me." He said. _Talking Animals, Sleeping doors, wtf is going on?" _ Ana thought.

"How did he get so small?" Sora asked. What happened next would have surprised Ana if she hadn't already seen stranger things happen

"You are simply too big." It said in an aggravated voice.

"It talks!" Donald must have been surprised.

"Must you be so loud? You woke me up!" the door said

Goofy interjected "Good morning!"

"Goodnight!" the door said beginning to close his eyes.

"Wait!" Sora said

"Cant you just leave me be?" the door seemed angrier now.

"Well if you tell us how to get smaller, we will leave you in peace." Ana said smoothly.

"If you must… The bottle, over there…" the door said as a table shot out of the ground.

"Thanks." They said and the door returned to his slumber.

"What a grouch." Ana said under her breath. She stared at the bottle_. What if he was lying? What if the bottle of liquid was poison or something. How did they know they could trust the door?_ But before she could express her thoughts, Sora had already drunk out of the bottle. "Sora! Why did you do that!" Ana was worried. Sora just laughed as he shrank.

"Come on guys, it's not going to hurt you." He waved from the ground and Donald and Goofy took suite. Ana was the only one left. When she finally shrank into the size of the ant, she marched up to Sora,

"What do you think you're doing? How can you trust someone so easily? That could have killed you for all you knew. I'm supposed to protect you!" Ana was clearly upset and Sora turned his head down.

"I'm Sorry Ana. But what if Kairi is through that door?" Sora said. Ana saw so much in his eyes. He missed her. And she understood. She wanted to find her friend too. She didnt know where Lea had gone, and of course Riku. She wanted to see him again, find out who that shadowy person was he was talking to. Sora's heart was so pure, and hers… she didn't understand hers. She sighed.

"I'm sorry Sora." Sora laughed, and Ana's eyes grew narrow. "Why are you laughing?" she interjected.

"Because I'm glad to have you as a friend." He smiled. And put his arms behind his head. Ana couldn't help but smile. Ana looked around the place. Everything was so big now. How would they get back to normal size? Would they be small forever?

"GREAT! I'm smaller than I already was. It sucks being short." Sora laughed at her.

"It's not that bad." He said putting an arm around her playfully." I'm shorter than Riku. At first I hated it because he would always beat me is races and stuff. But the smaller you are, the more agile you are, and the easier it is to fight." He smiled. Ana returned it.

"Ok, let's get through that door." She said, and with that, they found themselves in front of a whole courtyard.

The little white rabbit was at a podium in front of a bunch of cards with limbs and heads and at the very top sat a very fat women. *The queen?* Ana guessed right. A small girl with blonde hair in a blue dress stood in front of her highness looking nervous.

"I blame the girl. She is the culprit, the reason why… Is because I said so!" The Queen yelled.

"That's not fair!" The girl in the blue stammered in unison with Ana. Donald elbowed her in the ribs, and Ana glared at him

"Quiet!" he said. Ana stuck her tongue out and they continued to watch as the girl tried to defend herself. Not long after Sora piped in.

"Hey guys, why don't we try and help her?" he asked

"Yeah but that would be meddling." Ana said with her arms crossed

"Yeah, and that's against the rules." Goofy said. He and Donald looked sad about it.

"The court finds the defendant...guilty as charged! For the crimes of assault and attempted theft of my heart..." She looked to the cards. "Off with her head!"

"No please!" Alice said panicked as the cards came towards her. Ana rolled her eyes. She knew that Sora couldn't just stand there waiting for something to happen, and right on queue he walked out into the crowed. Ana and his friends followed.

It wasn't long before Alice was put in a cage and the four were left wandering Wonderland, trying to find proof that the girl was innocent. All the while, Ana was thinking about how off track they were getting on this sidetrack adventure. She hated this place, and its confusing purple cats and random talking flowers. It was hard enough to get around. And all these random rooms they ran into. It was like a maze, and by the time they had figured it all out, Ana was exhausted, more mentally than physically.

As they were walking back to the courtyard Sora sighed. It was obvious what was on his mind. They had been looking around this world for hours and still hadn't found any sign of his friends. Ana walked beside him in perfect pace, trying to think of something that would make the Keyblade Master feel better. Sora broke the silence. "What was your world like?" Ana jumped, not expecting to hear him speak. She didn't have to ponder long to answer his question.

"It was big. There were so many cities and towns, and it was different everywhere. Like we had seasons, sometimes it would be cold and snow, other times it would rain, then there were the sunny days. Those were the days I really loved. There was all kinds of trees and mountains where I lived, and we would all take boards and go into the mountains when it snowed and ride down them. But not every place had snow. Some places had sand and warm weather all the time, and others were cold and icy" Ana explained with pride. "And yours?"

"I lived on an island. It was really small, that's part of the reason I ended up here. My friends Riku, and Kairi… we all wanted to see a new world. See, Kairi came from another place when she was little. That's how we knew there was something else out there. So we built a raft, and the night before we left the heartless came." Sora was looking off into the distance.

"Earth to Sora!" Ana said waving her hand in front of his face.

"Huh?" He said before he realized he was spacing out. He laughed and the four continued to walk.

When they had got back to the queen, Sora had proved it wasn't Alice buy revealing the heartless and all hell broke loose. A Huge tower appeared from nowhere and raised Alice's cage to the sky. Ana sighed and joined in the fight to beat the cards into a bloody mess and destroy the device holding Alice. Victory was close, but before Ana could swing to hit the tower again, she was surrounded by darkness. "SORA!" she yelled. Sora turned his head in her direction, only to see her swallowed by the darkness before it dissipated.

Suffocating. Ana couldn't think of anything else. Memories formed in her mind, the bad ones. An image of her mother's body flashed in her mind's eye. She was cold and lifeless, her father standing over her with a knife in his hands. She felt the fear and confusion as he walked over to her. She turned to run and Ana cringed as she felt the heat of the knife cutting into her back. She kept running and running; only looking back as she watched her father take his life as well. "_There, there dear. Don't worry." _ A voice came from the darkness.

Ana opened her eyes to see she was lying on a stone floor in what looked like to be a castle room. She sat up and rubbed the scar on her back, shaking the memories of her parents from her head. She squinted her eyes. Everything was so blurry, it looked like fog had settled over her vision and it bugged her. When she could finally focus on something, it was the silhouette of what looked like a woman, with horns on her head. "Oh great, I must have died and gone to hell" Ana said sarcastically.

"Not quite." It said. She had the same voice from the darkness. Ana was itching to know who it was. "You know child, you shouldn't be so afraid of the dark. For it's the light that casts shadows you see, It creates darkness."

"Ya well, I don't buy that." Ana said unsure of herself. The devil lady had a point.

"I know it's inside of you. You've felt it before haven't you? That time you talked with Riku."

Ana jumped at the sound of his name, "RIKU! What do you know about Riku?" The woman laughed to herself. "Who the hell are you? And what's up with all this talk of darkness. How do you know?"

"Let the darkness within you take over. It was guide you on a path to find him. You two are almost the same, it shouldn't take very long." It was said smoothly. Ana sat there for awhile, thinking about the darkness. She closed her eyes to search herself and it was definitely there, the darkness within her was almost purring, like a lion, sweet and alluring, but ready to be ripped from its cage. She needed to focus better. She was so confused, the deeper she looked the darker it became, until she saw something dim, and in order for it to be dim there had to be light somewhere. Right?

_**Don't forget**_

Ana barely heard it. It was that voice from all her dreams, But don't forget what? She was forgetting someone. Someone special she was supposed to protect. The name was on the tip of her tongue.

"Maleficent." Someone called, Ana's thoughts were breaking. It sounded like someone she knew. But she couldn't place his voice.

"Quiet!" the woman answered. The man didn't respond. ** "**Come on dear. You can do it." Maleficent purred. Almost like the caged lion. _I'm not supposed to forget__**. **_Ana thought, it was in the tip of her memories, he was special to her… **Sora! ** Ana screamed and held her head in pain. A portal opened up from behind her and all she remembered was Maleficent's rage before she passed out and was sucked into the darkness once again.

MEANWHILE

"ANA" Sora panicked when he saw his friend disappear. A card from came out of nowhere and knocked him down.

"Sora, we need to focus, we almost got 'em." Goofy sounded cheerful as always, but Sora knew he was right. He picked himself up and threw his Keyblade at the tower, destroying it, only to find that when the cage lowered, Alice was gone.

"Fools, find who did this! I don't care how!" The Queen howled at them.

"Come on guys, lets go." Sora said, his friends following him back into the Lotus forest. They weren't there long before the Cheshire cat showed up again.

"Have you seen Alice?" Donald asked him

"Alice no, shadows yes!"

"Where did they go?" Goofy asked. Sora only heard half of what was being said, he wanted to find Alice, but he would rather be looking for Ana. He knew that she wasn't in a good place. How could she be if she was surrounded by all that darkness?

"Cheer up Sora." Donald placed his hand (Wing?) on him. "Ana is tough, I bet she is just fine."

"Yeah, she's probably destroying heartless right now, and trying to find her way back!" Goofy was so sweet. Sora nodded.

"Ok, let's see if we can find the heartless that is responsible for all of this!" Sora was determined.

FAST FORWARD

Ana groaned as she felt soft hands lift her head into a lap. When she finally opened her eyes, she was staring into deep blue ones, filled with worry. "Sora." She said softly.

"Are you ok Ana?" He asked, clearly distressed to find his friend this way. Ana pondered for a moment, She felt ok, besides the lack of memory she had of what had happened to her. All she could remember was a figure of a woman, and the memories of her parents. She sighed and smiled up at her caring friend.

"I'm fine, thank you Sora." She sat up and looked around the room. "How did we end up back here?" She asked, clearly confused that they were in the same room they started in.

"I don't know how you did" Sora said.

"Well garsh, we were following that cat around and it led us back here." Goofy stated

"Ya, and you were laying on the floor when we got here."Donald added in his duck voice

"Oh" was all Ana could say

"You'll have a better view from higher up." The Cheshire cat appeared again on the table.

"You guys are still listening to him?" Ana said. The cat made no sense to her

"He's the only help we've got ." Donald said.

"Well if you say so…" Ana walked up to the table and jumped up on the chair, she was followed by her three friends

"The shadows will be here soon. Are you prepared for the worst?" The cat disappeared.

"How the hell was that helpful damn it!" Ana said. But it wasn't long after the words left her mouth that a giant Heartless with long paper like limbs appeared and she was left spewing dirty words.

"You had to say something didn't you?" The duck said. Ana fumed. They had learned from their previous fight that attacking its head was way more effective and just hitting the body, but this fight would prove difficult, seeing as it was huge and they were still small

"It always sucks being small."

"Why don't we go for his legs and trip him? That way he will fall over and we can attack easier." Sora suggested.

"You are so smart!" Ana said, summoning her blade. And it didn't take long for them to smack him to the floor, but eventually he did get back up. _What a pain_ she thought. And again she was left cursing to herself because she wasn't prepared for what happened next. "It has torches!" she was amazed. Sora ran up and hit the Trickmaster, only to be sent flying backwards, luckily landing next to Ana instead of on top of her.

"So what are we going to do?" Sora asked.

"Well, maybe we should ice his torches out" suggested Ana. She felt the power build within her and ice shot from her Keyblade, putting a torch out. Sora did the same, Donald and Goofy ran at the Heartless and quickly did some damage, which seemed to make it angry. It stated stomping around the room, Ana pushed Sora out of the way, before almost getting squashed herself. The Heartless was going to the fire, it was going to relight its torches.

"Oh no!" Donald yelled. Ana felt that overwhelming need to be helpful again. It was already getting on her nerves, but she knew what she had to do.

"Sora follow me." She picked him up off the floor. He nodded trusting her completely. "Donald, Goofy, I need you two close to the Trickmaster." She looked around the room and found a rope. "Take that." She nodded towards it, they ran to get it. She ran to the table. "Stay right here." She told Sora Ana jumped up on the chair, then up on the table. She was semi afraid of heights, so looking down wasn't an option for her. Instead she stared straight ahead.

"Ana, what is your plan?" Sora asked.

"I'm going to jump on him and blind him, seeing as every time he lights his torches he stomps around the room like a mad man, then Donald and Goofy are going to trip him, and then we can all let into him." She said determined.

"But-" Sora said but was cut off. The Trickmaster was almost done lighting his torches. Ana took a deep breath and jumped. Sora stared in shock as she actually jumped on the Heartless' shoulders, and put her hands over his eyes. Ana could feel the heat from the torches as it tumbled backwards and fell right over the rope Donald and Goofy was holding. As it fell to the ground, Ana jumped off, only to feel a sharp pain all the way up her leg. She ignored it and limped over to the fallen Heartless. By the time she got there, Its giant heart rose to the sky and disappeared. The friends shouted in joy, but it was cut short by the door knob,

"Must you be so loud?" It said yawning. Ana felt a presence in the door and Sora must have to somehow, and then they saw it, a keyhole in the mouth of a keyhole. He raised his Keyblade and a beam of light shot from it, creating a clicking sound. The door snored on

"Did you hear that?" Goofy said.

"I think we locked the door to the world." Donald added. He seemed to do that a lot. A gummi fell from the door. "We don't have a gummi like that." He said. The Cheshire cat appeared again

"Great, not you again." Ana rolled her eyes and crossed her arms

"Splendid. You're quite the hero. If you're looking for Alice, she's not here. She's gone! Off with the shadows, into darkness." He said

"No…" Sora was upset and the cat disappeared

"What useless information, it was kind of obvious she was taken by the heartless." She said.

"Well, maybe she will be in another world. We should keep looking." Goofy said

"Yeah, yeah. Lets go." Ana was grumpy, and she knew that they wouldn't find Alice in another world if the heartless truly had taken her. Not wanting to crush the hopes of her friends, she limped off in the direction of a green portal that would take them back to the ship.

"Ana wait!" Sora said, running in her direction. His two friends followed close behind. Sora scooped her off her feet. "You shouldn't walk on that." What if its broken?" He was being sweet.

"It's just sprained."Ana sighed

"Well, either way." Sora said confident. there was no use in arguing with him, besides, she was tired of walking. She laid her head down on his chest and quickly drifted off to sleep…


	3. Olympus

**So guess what? I'm at home sick today! Yay? No not really, it sucks being sick, but in the meantime, while I'm not making trip to the bathroom to puke my guts out, I'll write some more on the story! Hope you enjoy**

Ana's dreams weren't pleasant. She had been wandering in darkness the whole time, trying to find a way out of the endless abyss. "Well this just sucks." Her voice seemed to echo threw out the dark "Why can't I wander in the light? I'd take rainbows and ponies over rocks and dead trees any day." She realized she was talking to herself. Hoping she wasn't losing her mind, she sat down on the ground and stretched out, not long after she was joined by a familiar presence, which made her heart skip a beat. "RIKU!" she sat straight up. The boy with the white hair looked at her and laughed.

"I never thought I would see you here."

"Yeah well, this seems to be the place where my minds likes to wander. Where have you been? Sora's been looking for you, you know." Ana laid back down, putting her hands behind her head using them as a pillow. Riku laid down next to her. He had a lazy smile on his face

"I've been around. You look a little worse for wear. Is everything ok?" Riku asked concerned. It was true, Ana didn't look like herself, with all the cut and bruises she had acquired during her adventure to Wonderland, and her sprained ankle that throbbed as they were speaking, she knew she was in bad shape, but Ana also knew that he was trying to change the subject.

"Yeah its fine. I'm just doing my best to help Sora." Riku laughed at this

"Yeah, Sora can use some help every once in a while." He continued to laugh. Ana liked his laugh, it was so laid back and light hearted. She knew that he was just joking around with what he said. Him and Sora were true friends, but when she actually focused on the boy, she could tell he was diving head first into danger.

"Are you ok Riku? He didn't answer

Sighing, she raised her hand up to the sky, there were no stars here, just a full moon and clouds. Riku grabbed her hand and lowered it. Looking over to him, she expected him to let go, but instead his eyes met her and he squeezed it. She blushed. They both looked away and laid there for a long time. Peace. Ana felt a connection through this boy that she barley knew. Could he maybe feel the same?

"Come with me Ana." He said breaking the silence at last. "I won't let you get hurt; you will be safe I'll protect you." Ana was taken aback by this. She looked at Riku and he continued to look at the sky. She wanted to, so badly. She didn't want the protection, she wanted to closeness to Riku. But she knew Sora needed her too at this point. How could she abandon her friend? Plus if she was the balance, she was being called towards the light, Sora needed her. She was torn in two, she felt like her heart could explode, but a question arose in her.

"Riku, that's not possible. This is just a dream after all. Isn't it?"

"Well, if that's the way you see it, then I guess I'll see you later." He let go of her hand. She could feel the aggravation growing in him. How could she feel HIS emotions? She didn't know, but it was just a dream… right? Ana was hurt and she knew Riku was too. He got up and she did also,

"Riku I'm sorry." He turned and looked at her, a smile clear on his face. He walked over to her and wiped a tear from her cheek. Ana wasn't even aware that she had been crying.

"It's ok, I'll be back for you." But as he walked away Ana found that she couldn't move and she could see the light coming from behind her.

"Riku wait!" she yelled. He waved over his shoulder

"Until next time-" His voice echoed. And she was ripped from her sleep

IN THE SHADOWS

Riku had returned to the castle to find Maleficent watching out the window, her black bird perched on her shoulder.

"Welcome back dear, how did it go? You seem frustrated." She said calmly, turning around to face him.

"Walking in her dreams, it wasn't enough; she still wants to stay with Sora." The sun was setting on the castle, casting an ominous glow through the window

"May I ask why you take such a liking to a girl that you have only met once?" She purred, putting her arm around Riku. They were walking down the hallway. "You can trust me Riku, you can tell me anything."

"Well, I don't know why exactly. I just feel like she understands me, like, we know each other from somewhere. That very first time time I felt like I was drowning, and then she showed up and saved me. It doesn't make very good sense." He said confused. Maleficent just nodded her head, a creepy smile formed on her lips.

"Then you shall get what you want." She said.

"And what about Kairi?"

"In time dear boy, in time"

BACK TO THE GUMMI SHIP

"Ana we're here." Goofy said as Ana rubbed her dream from her eyes. _So it was a dream… so why did it seem so real? _ She asked herself. She decided to wait until later to think about it. She needed to focus on the task at hand. She felt a lot better after her nap, her ankle didn't even hurt as bad. So she hobbled off the ship after her friends

OLYMPUS

The place they landed in was hot, and the writing on the walls in the courtyard where in another language.

"It looks like Greek." Ana had learned about it in school when she was younger, but didn't find a lot of interest in it so she didn't know much.

"Well come on, let's go through those doors, maybe Kairi and Riku and the King are somewhere in there." Sora was over excited to find what was on the other side

Through the doors they went, only to find what they least expected. A small round goat man. Sora went to say something but was interrupted by him

"Could you move that pedestal? I'm trying to spruce up for the games. Ana looked at her friends, who shrugged their shoulders and walked towards the giant block. She stayed in her spot, leaning up against the wall and crossing her arms

"Hey, aren't you going to help?" Sora said, he thought she was being unfair, but she just laughed.

"I don't think anyone could move that block. Even on a good day I wouldn't try. So I'll let you try to your heart's content."

Sora glared at her and his friends started pushing the block, only to find that it wouldn't budge and inch, not even a centimeter. Ana had to give them kudos for at least trying.

"It's to heavy." Sora finally gave up. The goat man turned around (Phil)

"Since when has that ever been a problem…. Oh." He said turning around with a surprised look on his face. "What are you doing in here? This is the Coliseum. Hero's from all over are going to be coming here to fight in the games. What are four pipsqueaks like you doing in a place like this.

"We heroes!" Donald said angrily

"And we are not pipsqueaks!" Ana added to the fire

"You're standing right in front of a hero, he's the Keyblade master." Goofy seemed like the only sensible one.

"That runt?" Phil pointed towards Sora

"Hey, I've fought plenty of monsters." Sora said

"You better watch it goat man." Ana said lowly, he then turned to her and glared.

"And what are you going to do about it little lady? Your half the size he is!"

Ana summoned her blade but before she could come close to Phil, Donald Goofy and Sora tackled her.

"GET OFF!" She yelled, she was extremely mad at Phil for making fun of her and her friends. She didn't know where all the anger was coming from.

"Ana calm down, it's fine, lets deal with this calmly." Sora was her voice of reason. She took a deep breath and Donald and Goofy got off the pile. "Are you ok?"Sora whispered.

"I'm fine why?"

"Because I've never seen you act like this." Ana felt guilty hearing Sora say this because he was completely right. She didn't know what had gotten into her but it unnerved her a little bit.

"Yeah, I'm ok. Sorry Sora." She said as he got up off of her. He took her hand and helped her up. Phil looked a little nervous when she finally stood up. She made a growling sound and he coward. Ana laughed to herself before talking to him again. Sora watched her nervously.

"If you can't move the pedestal, you're not a hero." Phil said flatly

"Ok, if this is the way it's going to be, I want to see you move it." She smirked

"Fine I will." Phil walked towards the block, but when he tried to move it, it wouldn't budge for him either "Ok fine, it takes more than brawn, so let's see what you can do." Ana was beginning to like him a little more.

Phil disappeared for a little while. Sora sat down next to a wall and Ana sat next to him. Sora yawned.

"You're not tired are you?" Ana asked poking him in the ribs. Sora laughed.

"A little nap would be nice." Stretching he laid his head on Ana's shoulder and quickly dozed off.

"Wow, that was fast, didn't he sleep on the ship?" Ana asked Donald and Goofy

"Most of the time he was watching you." Donald said

"Yeah, he was really worried." Goofy said. Ana looked at Sora and felt bad. It wasn't his job to worry about her, he had a hard enough time worrying about Kairi and Riku… _Riku_ he crossed her mind again. What was with him? Why was he wandering in the darkness? He made her dream seem so real, yet he was so distant. Sora woke at the sound of a door opening.

"You ready kid? Let's see what you got." Phil said. Sora stood up stretching.

"Are you guys coming?" He asked. Ana nodded

"We will watch from the sidelines. Now show him how strong you are Sora."

It didn't take long for Sora to smash all the barrels that Phil put up. Ana couldn't help but think how stupid a trial this was, but she cheered her friend on anyways. Phil even complimented him

"But you still aint heroes." He said

"Oh come on." Sora was bummed.

"You wanna be heroes? Start with this." Phil gave them all a spell to use. It was thunder. _Thunder, how useless, why couldn't he give up lightening _Ana was thinking again. They tromped out into the arena only to run into Hades.

"Who are you!" Donald exclaimed. Ana didn't like the look or feel of him. His head was on fire! He reeked of darkness

"Hold it fuzzy, you want into the games right?" He placed his hand on Sora's shoulder. Ana contained the urge to smack him, considering how much trouble she got in earlier. Plus a pass appeared in his hands out of nowhere. "I'm counting on you Shorty." He said to Sora before disappearing. Sora looked to Ana

"Look, we can get in now!" He was so excited. Ana didn't want to crush his spirit so she smiled.

"I'm glad for you." She said. They all went to tell Phil, who let them into prelims.

"Are you coming with us Ana?" Donald asked her,

"No, it's your guy's time to shine, I'll cheer you on." She smiled sweetly. The first round was cake, which Ana knew it would be. When Phil met them in the arena, Sora was over thrilled that they did so good. Ana felt something hostile, and then a tall man named Cloud walked past the group of friends. Even Phil could tell how restless he was.

"You might end up facing him." He said. Ana shuddered, but happy care free Sora shrugged it off

"On we go!" he said, and Ana took her seat in the audience. The next two roundes didn't take long either; Sora was breezing through this like it was busy work. He even stopped to wave up at his friend. Ana smiled and waved back, chuckling to herself

"You aren't to bad kid." Phil applauded him. "I just with he was here to see this."

"Who?" inquired Sora

"A true hero if I've ever seen one. Hercules. Too bad he's off visiting his dad."

Sora continued on. Ana watched proudly from the sidelines as he cleared another two rounds, but something told her that the next battle wasn't going to be easy. While Sora was celebrating, Hades and Cloud were off in a corner conspiring.

"You see that kid right there? He's your next opponent." Hades said to Cloud almost panicky.

"The great god of the underworld is afraid of a kid? Sorry but it isn't in my contra-" Cloud was cut off

"I know what the contract says, I wrote it, it says you are to kill Hercules, but in order to get to Hercules, you have to fight the kid. Besides, Phil himself said it, It's just a game, go out and have some fun. What is it to you if you have 1 or 2 casualties?" Hades was an awful person. Cloud left

"He's stiffer than the stiffs back home. Still suckers like him are hard to come by."

"Ana!" Sora ran up to her excitedly, "Did you see how well we did out there?" Ana laughed at him.

"You're doing great Sora. I think Phil is in shock." Ana looked over to the goat man, who seemed to be a little more enthusiastic than when they had first arrived. "You better get back to the field, your almost done." She looked at him proudly and he was off again.

This round seemed to be a little more difficult for Sora, but he and his friends managed. Cloud stepped in. Ana felt sorry for the guy; he seemed confused and very alone. Had something happened to him in his past? (DID IT EVER! Poor guy ) The battle started and Ana had to suppress the urge to kick Cloud's ass, Sora was getting thrown around quite a bit but it was his fight and that's the only thing that kept her in her place. The fight seemed to take forever but Sora eventually learned to evade Cloud's attacks and not long after that, defeat him.

Before Ana could get up and congratulate them, she began to feel dizzy, her world was spinning, she lost all hearing, and before she could sit down or catch herself she passed out. Waking up in a dark place was beginning to get old. What was happening to her? She never had dreams like this before. _Maybe Riku will be here_. But much to her dismay, she was met by none other than the witch herself.

"Get up." She said in a low voice. Ana was never good at being bossed around, but something told her she should listen and she stood on her feet. At first she was afraid of falling over, but she wasn't dizzy in this world

"Who are you?" she asked skeptical.

"My name is Maleficent. Ruler of the darkness, and I have something for you Ana." Before she could ask what it was, Riku appeared, chained to a wall and looking like a bloody mess.

"What did you do to him?" Ana gritted her teeth and summoned her blade. Maleficent smirked and laughed quietly. "RIKU!" Ana called, but the boy didn't answer "Damn you!" Ana charged at the witch but quickly regretted it, as she was sent flying backwards into a wall.

"That's right, let the anger fuel your fire. Let the darkness take over you." The evil witch insanely laughed, it sent chills through Ana. She lunged forward again, this time getting closer to Maleficent, but again, she regretted what she had done. Green flames surrounded her in an instant. The flames licked her skin and Ana screamed in agony, falling to her hands and knees.

"You're perfect." She walked through the fire and up to Ana, who was now on all fours panting. She took her chin and forced Ana to look in her eyes, anger was still written all over her face, she looked over to where Riku was moments before but he was gone.

"What do you want from me?" before Maleficent could answer her question, the ground began to shake, and everything was falling around them.

"Your Keyblade master calls for you. We will meet again." And that was that. Ana opened her eyes once again to find a worried Sora looking over her.

"Thank you." She said. The confused look on Sora's face told her that he was very confused. This was the second time he had saved her from her dark dreams. She heard a loud bark/roar and looked from Sora to the arena. "What the hell is that?" she panicked, seeing the three headed dog

"Cerberus. Phil didn't want us to come back out here. But I had to save you, and Hercules and Cloud." He said. Donald helped Ana up to her feet.

"Are you sure you're ok? He said. She smiled at the duck.

"Yes now quit asking. Shouldn't we do something about that slobber bag?"

"Let's go get him!" Goofy charged down the stairs. Ana followed after and Sora was on her heels. She could sense that he was still worried, but she knew he needed to blow that feeling off quick if he was going to take this dog down.

Ana flipped off the benches and landed a blow straight to one of Cerberus' heads. She braced herself as she landed on her feet in the dirt, sending clouds of it flying around her. Her ankle gave out and she panicked as the dog charged at her. "He's gonna eat me!" She screamed, dodging out of the way

"Not while I'm here." Sora knocked Cerberus out of the way.

"Sora, watch out!" Ana pushed the kid out of the way again. She barely had time to defend herself and fire was being shot at her, and she heard Sora groan as a fire ball hit him. Ana rushed to him "Get up!"

" That hurt." Sora said standing. This time it was his turn to push Ana out of the way. He dive bombed into her before the dog could take another swipe at them. They landed together in the dust. Sora quickly got up off of her and helped her up. "How on earth are we going to beat him?"

"With distance." Ana looked around to find that Donald and Goofy were charging the head of into the dog. "Some days I wonder about them" She sighed calling them over. Magic, hopefully that Thunder spell they were given would do the trick on this guy, because getting close to him would be suicide.

They used a series of spells, thunder seeming to do some good on this guy, Ice doing better. Whenever he was down for the count, they would all run up to him and beat him senseless, and when he woke up again, they would all run away and Ana would limp off with Sora's help. She felt so useless, it was her job to help Sora, not the other way around. At one point, the Dog seemed to be puking darkness, which created dark holes that shot up from the ground. Ana and Sora were caught in this contraption once, almost knocking them out. Ana cursed herself for not protecting him better.

"Is he ever going to die?" Ana asked staring up at the monster. At that, another growl escaped from Cerberus. Ana was fed up. Something crossed her mind. An image of Maleficent, and one of a broken Riku.

"What are you doing?" Sora asked Ana before she had even had time to process the rest of her plan. She looked at him and smirked.

"Just stay here Key boy." Sora was shocked by the comment and tried to follow after her. "I said stay here!" She warned him. Fire burned in her eyes and Sora immediately backed down. Ana knew she was being harsh but something inside her had snapped, and she knew exactly what she needed to do.

She walked towards Cerberus with pure determination, dark energy formed around her first it was small but as she focused more energy she became walking darkness. Once she was at a safe distance she released a ball of darkness and it hit Cerberus square in the middle head, dazing him. At that point Ana was far to focused to see the shocked look on her friends faces. She then jumped up on Cerberus and raised her Keyblade, this time hitting him in the chest. The monster groaned and fell over unconscious.

Ana could feel the rage inside her slip away as she looked to her friends. Her heart felt empty, almost as if was void of emotion, as if it had given up. "Ana!" Sora yelled running towards her. A small pain shot through her and she began to breath again and she felt her heart racing. She hadn't realized she was holding her breath.

"What were you doing over there, looking at me like you had lost your mind?" Ana asked jumping off the giant dog.

"Well, to be honest I wasnt sure if you had lost yours." Donald said glaring daggers at her

"Watch it duck." Ana grew scary. Goofy was the one that brought them back to their senses.

"Shouldn't we go back inside?"

"I guess we should." Ana said not taking her eyes off Donald. "Smart ass Ducks first."

"I don't think so missy." Donald and Ana continued to glare. But Ana was pulled from her staring contest when Sora grabbed her hand. He laughed lightly as he pulled her in the direction on the lobby.

"I didn't know you had a dark side." He said. "Donald better watch out."

"Yeah well, I dont have much patients for people with attitudes... Or ducks in this situation." Ana and Sora laughed. They could hear Donald behind them arguing with Goofy.

Everyone was exhausted. They found Phil in the lobby, pride swelling from his chest "I hear by dub you four junior heroes" Phil said, before he could go on Donald yelled at him

"Junior heroes? What do you mean junior heroes." Ana laughed at him. "Besides, when do talking animals with tail feathers count as heroes?"

"You four still don't know what it takes to be a true hero."

"Watch it goat man, I never said I wanted to be a hero." Ana interjected. And it was true, all she wanted was to protect her friends at all cost, this didn't make her a hero at all. Her three friends looked at her and then back at Phil.

"I'll show you I have what it takes in the games!" Sora said, apparently over the fact about Ana, but his hopes were crushed

"There won't be any games for awhile; I have to clean up after the last battle."

"Fine we'll be back." Sora answered as they walked out of the lobby. Ana heard Hercules whispering to Phil.

"Just between you and me, I wore him down first." He said. Ana knew Hercules meant well.

"My lips are sealed." Phil said

The sun was still shining outside the Lobby. Sora noticed Cloud sitting by the exit. "Hey are you ok?" He asked Cloud

"Yeah." He replied

"So why did you go along with him anyways?" Sora asked. Ana was confused, but she assumed that he meant Hades.

"I'm looking for someone. Hades promised to help. I tried to exploit the power of darkness, but backfired." Cloud stood "I fell into darkness, and couldn't find the light."

"Keep searching." Sora said. I'm looking too!" Ana smiled. She couldn't help but realize how much light Sora gave to others

"For your light? Don't lose sight of it." Cloud turned away. Ana noticed how sad he looked. She wanted to help him but she figured he would want to fight his battle alone.

"How about a rematch next time, fair and square, no dark powers." Sora tried But Cloud declined and left

"We should probably go too." Suggested Ana. "Off to the next world?" She said and they all agreed. Little did they know that Hades and Maleficent were watching them in the shadows.

"That Ana, she interests me." Maleficent said.

"Who invited you to the party? Stay out of it, this is my show!" Hades was angry

"As you wish." She left

In the Gummi ship, Ana and Sora were fixing themselves up with the first aid kit. "How's your ankle Ana?" Sora asked, pulling out cream, and ice pack and bandages from the kit.

"It's actually fine!" she smiled. Sora put the ice pack on it anyways. Hearing a low growl, Ana chucked. "Are you seriously hungry again? She laughed as Sora blushed.

"M-maybe. I am growing you know" Sora scratched the back of his head and giggled. Ana took the cream from him and began applying it to all his wounds, this caused him to blush even more.

"Really?" Ana gave an evil smirk "I didn't notice."

"HEY!" Sora said and tackled her"What's that supposed to mean?"

"Ok ok I'm sorry! Let me up." Ana managed to say, trying not to be crushed by Sora. Donald looked back at the two and shook his head.

"Keyblade masters." He rolled his eyes. Goofy chuckled in his Goofy laugh. When Sora finally quit wrestling Ana sat up gasping. Sora sat down next to her and picked up the cream, putting it on her as she did him.

"You're a really good friend Ana." He said to her when he was all finished.

"Thanks Sora." She replied

"Just wait until you meet Riku! You two are so much alike." At the mention of Riku's name, Ana's face flushed. The image of her dream caught up with her and Riku came smack to the front of her memories, beaten and broken. It didn't take long for Sora to notice this. "Are you ok?" He asked slowly. Ana snapped back into reality.

"Yeah, I'm fine." She tried to say convincingly. Sora sighed and put the medical stuff away. Ana laid down on the floor and Sora joined her.

"Do you think we will ever find them?"

"I'm sure we will Sora, It's just a matter of time before we meet up with both of them and they will be perfectly fine." Ana tried to convince herself. She was almost sure that she had been dreaming when she met Maleficent, but the burns on her arms proved otherwise.

Sora looked at Ana thoughfully. She knew something was on his mind and she had a feeling she knew exactly what it was. But even she couldn't tell him what had happened back in the arena, because she didn't know either. She rolled over in the opposite direction of Sora so that she didn't have to answer any of his questions.

It didn't take long before they both drifted off to sleep. Only waking When Donald and Goofy were making a fuss over whether or not to land in the next world.

MEANWHILE

The clouds in the sky were fairly low to the ground, thunder could be heard rolling in the distance and a cold breeze swept through the castle that housed Maleficent and her crew.

"She is very interesting indeed, I want her power on our side." She spoke softly to her colleagues.

"But what makes her so special?" It was Oogie Boogie that spoke. "She's on the Key brats side anyways."

"Yes, she does harness the power of light, but her power of darkness is even greater, if she was just to release it, who knows what kind of potential she would have? They say she's the balance of darkness and light. I think it's our turn to shine"

"And how do you plan on capturing her? I don't think she will come willingly" it was Captain Hook's turn to speak. A vision of Riku flashed across the table that they were surrounding. He looked as healthy as can be

"This boy, he seems to have made a bond with her. It isn't quite visible to him yet, but I know she knows, it's just a matter of time." She said

**Oh great, what's going to happen with Ana? Only time will tell**. **Deep Jungle Is up next. I hoped you all enjoyed**


	4. Deep Jungle

**Sorry for the wait. I've been busy, you know, paying rent and going to a water park ever week :P My state is on fire, yep the entire state! Well maybe not the entire state but as of today there is almost 12 burning, but that's what happens when you live close to those good ol Rockies. Anyways, enough of me. Deep Jungle**

Ana sat in the back of the ship, bracing herself for impact. Sora apparently thought that he could fly the Gummi ship but so far his theory proved wrong. She understood perfectly his reasons for wanting to land in the jungle but his approach was a little on the extreme side. As the land drew closer Ana began to panic "Sora, if we live I'm going to kill you!"

"Me too! Agreed Donald, before they were thrown into unconsciousness. Sora woke with a start and it wasn't long after that he woke Ana. He offered his hand to help her up but she pushed it away and stood on her wobbly legs.

"Really Sora?" she asked rubbing her head. "I wonder how many more concussions I'm going to get on this journey." She said more to herself. "Well, shall we get going?" She asked looking around the abandoned tree house. But Sora didn't answer. Instead she was tackled by the Keyblade Master and they were both sent flying to the floor, Sora landing on top of Ana, who blushed slightly. "What the-" Sora whipped around and his Keyblade was the only thing protecting them from the jaws of the Sabor. Ana 's reaction was anything short of scared, her instincts kicked in and she pushed Sora off of her and launched into the spotted animal. Once it was knocked away she grabbed Sora's hand and heaved him off the floor.

"Let's go!" He said running away

The Sabor didn't give them any time to run, it was back on its feet and charging at them before they could get out the door. Ana gasped as it lunged and struck it away again with her Keyblade but it proved useless.

"Ana!" Yelled Sora. She was knocked over, her blade was now merely a chew toy for the giant animal as he gnawed on it like a piece of steak, it was the only thing keeping him from ripping out her throat. Sora charged Sabor, a huge paw came down on his arm and left four gashes in it. Sora gritted his teeth in pain but still managed to hit the Sabor square in the face, sending it into a raging fit. "That's our queue to go!" He said in panic. They turned around to run again but quickly found that they were no longer being chased. In the place the Sabor was just seconds before stood a man, who had long dark hair and deep eyes.

"Thank you." Sora said walking closer to the mysterious jungle man. At that point Ana had realized that she was staring at the man in a rather rude manner. She stood behind her friend.

"Names Sora." He said with a goofy smile on his face

"Tarzan." The man replied in a harsh voice.

"Sora, ask him if he has seen your friends." Ana whispered, nudging Sora in the ribs. Sora rubbed the spot tenderly as he spoke.

"Say Tarzan, have you seen a taller boy with silver hair and an attitude running around the jungle?" He waited for an answer, but the jungle man stared at him awkwardly. "O.k. How about a young girl, about my age with short brown hair?" Still no answer. "You know, they are friends of mine." This got a response out of him.

"&%*#" Was all he said. Sora looked at Ana. It might have been her but it looked as if his eyes grew bigger and started to tear up. An image of Kairi crossed his path but quickly disappeared.

"Oh yeah! I forgot I can speak monkey!" Ana said her eyes lighting up. She was being sarcastic again

"No way!"

"No, reject." Ana smirked and sniggered under her breath.

"I knew that." Sora said. He almost convinced her. But she still felt a small pang of guilt and she knew that Sora wasn't quite on track her comments yet.

"Friends." Tarzan interjected. Sora and Ana both jumped, they were so engrossed in their conversation that it startled them.

"Did he just-"

"Speak?" Sora finished Ana's sentence

"Riku friends." He said. "Kairi friends."

"You know where my friends are?' Sora was eager

"Tarzan go."

"Well Sora, we should go with him. Maybe he really does know where your friends are."

"O.k. Tarzan, lead the way." Sora and Ana followed Tarzan. Ana bit her lip. She knew that Tarzan didn't know because she knew Riku wasn't there. Looking back in the old tree house, she saw that the Sabor was gone. A momentary flood of fear rushed through her before she pushed it off, knowing it was going to be a long day.

As they walked through the jungle everything was quiet. There wasn't even a breeze to rustle through the trees, but there was frogs and bugs and the occasional snake could be heard slithering away. Ana was dying in the humidity, and she wondered why Sora was perfectly fine. It then hit her that she didn't know too much about her companion and now she was compelled to ask.

"Hey Sora." She said lightly

"Yeah?" He asked looking at her.

"Tell me more about where you came from?" This question seemed to spark something in Sora. Ana could sense a flow of happiness as he spoke.

"I live on an island. I have my whole life. Sometimes my friends and I would take a boat to another small island just off ours and hang out there. There was a big tree house and lots of papou fruit. Everyone seemed so happy there…" He trailed off. Ana did want to pry, but she didn't have to. Sora conintued. "Kairi came to us as a kid. No one really knew where she came from but everyone accepted her and took her in. One day Riku decided he wanted off our happy island. He even thought if we got far enough that we might find Kairi's home." His eyes were distant, Ana didn't say a word.

"So we built a raft and collected food and the night before we left there was a big storm. I went down to check on the raft and realized when I got to my boat that Kairi and Riku were already there. But when I got to the island the heartless started to attack, I found Kairi in our special place but she disappeared after that. And when I got to Riku, the darkness had taken him." Sora fell silent. Ana didn't like that he was feeling down so she changed the subject.

"Where I lived, it was a small city, you could see the foothills to the mountains from my house. They were always beautiful and even tho the winters were cold, I loved them. My friends and I would go out for fun and go sledding and drink hot chocolate. We would have sleep overs on purpose when we knew that it would snow enough that there would be a snow day at school. And in the summers when it would get hot, we would go down to the lake and swim all day, then get ice cream after." Ana paused. She didn't want to remember those days; it gave her a sad sense of nostalgia.

Sora looked at her and smiled. "It sounds great!" he said enthusiastically.

"How's your arm?" she asked grabbing it.

"Hey that hurts." Sora said trying to pull it out of her grasp.

"Oh stop being such a baby." Ana examined it "It actually doesn't look that bad, I'm surprised." She gave Sora his arm back.

"Thanks Doc." Sora said sarcastically

"Any time."

They came to a small camp and entered a tent, only to be met by a woman

"Tarzan!" she ginned from ear to ear "Oh are these your friends? Have they come to watch the gorillas too?" She asked

"That's highly doubtful." Another voice came through the tent

"Clayton." Tarzan said, looking a bit angry. Following him was their two other companions. Sora looked over joyed to see them and him and Donald locked hands, jumping up and down. Ana looked to Goofy, both were trying to suppress a laugh, and they both failed miserably. Sora and Donald let go crossing their arms. Ana extended her hand to Jane.

"my name is Ana, and this is Sora, Goofy and an annoying talking duck."

"Hey!" Donald exclaimed, Jane just laughed.

"It's nice to meet all of you."

"Great, a bunch of circus clowns. I doubt they know the first thing about hunting gorillas." Clayton butted in. Ana was a little ticked at him by this point. It seemed that what little patients she used to have for people had disappeared when she got torn from her world. Ana leaned against a table and crossed her arms, biting her tongue as Jane spoke

"It's research; we aren't hunting the gorillas Mr. Clayton." She said to him, her brows furrowed.

"Yes, yes. Whatever you say." He walked out of the tent, leaving the six to themselves.

"I'm sorry about him, he seems to have a bit of a temper sometimes." Jane blushed as she apologized

"No worries!" Sora piped in. Ana was impressed again by how easy it was to comfort people.

"Make your selves at home." Jane said. It was obvious that Sora and Donald were still mad at each other. Neither would even dare to glance in the others direction.

"Gwarsh, Ana maybe we should do something." Goofy seemed concerned and Ana just chuckled

"I understand his frustrations in the matter, I have to say that I'm not too fond of the Duck myself. But either way I think you are right."

"Hey, we found a gummi piece." Goofy pulled it out of his pocket. "Maybe this will get their attention. He waved it in the air. In an immediate reaction both Donald and Sora had their eyes glued on the object.

"How are we supposed to find your friends and the king if you guys act like children and ignore each other all the time?" Ana asked, she know that she was throwing it a little far out there because if she was in Sora's situation, she would be mad at the duck as well.

"So let's stick together and find the King and your friends Sora." Goofy added. Sora looked at Donald, who looked at Ana.

"Come on guys, how old are we?" she said annoyed

"Fine." They both said in unison. Ana laughed

"See, now isn't that better?"

"Can it Key girl." Said the Duck

"Yeah." Sora agreed. Ana looked to Goofy.

"Now they are in agreement. It's kind of scary." She said to her friend. Goofy laughed and they talked to Jane once again.

"Tarzan was raised by gorillas." She explained. _No wonder he spoke in monkey_ Ana thought to herself "It's still very hard to understand him sometimes."

"Yeah, he said that my friends Kairi and Riku were here." Sora's eyes were downcast.

"Then there is only one place they could be and it's the one place Tarzan won't take us. They must be with the gorillas." Clayton entered the tent again

"Who invited you back in?" Ana asked disgusted by the sight of the man. He eyed her then stuck his nose up. After a brief argument, it was decided that Tarzan would talk to his leader and they would all go from there. He led the way out of the tent followed by the group of companions. Ana stayed behind for a couple minutes. The way Clayton had looked at her made her uncomfortable. She would like to say that she could hold her own in a fight but against this man and his guns she wasn't sure. Sora realized that Ana wasn't following them and went back to the tent.

"Everything ok?" He asked. Ana's head shot up and she smiled.

"Yeah, I'm just thinking."

"Oh..." Sora said, she knew what he wanted to know about but she didn't say a word. She didn't want to look defenseless in his eyes. Wasn't it her job to protect him? "Hey Ana." Sora said. She could almost feel the guilt coming from him and he hadn't even asked the question yet.

"I don't know what happened back there in the coliseum Sora." She tried to sound normal. Sora peered into her eyes. It felt as though he was looking at her soul. "When I passed out, I saw something, it really upset me. There was a lady there too talking about my darkness as well. And when I woke up…. Well I wasn't exactly myself. I still felt dazed, but I knew that I had to fight. So I did." Ana stared back at Sora

"What did you see?" He asked innocently. Ana shook her head. She couldn't bring herself to tell him.

"I don't exactly remember."

"But you're here to help me. So that means you can't be dark right? Maybe this is all some kind of misunderstanding." He said hopeful.

"I hope your right Sora." She walked from the tent, not looking back.

Ana didn't follow all the others. She needed some time to think and she found herself in a clearing. It was quiet, someplace peaceful where she could be herself. Sitting against a tree she closed her eyes ut quiet didn't last long when she heard a rustle in the bushes. Slightly annoyed she sighed "Come out Riku." The boy with silver hair came out from hiding.

"How did you know I was there?" He asked. Ana had only just begun to ask herself this question when they had met the first time.

"I think it's the whole dark light thing. Because I have to be a balance, I think I can feel the presence of light and dark, which automatically makes me wonder why the hell your presence is so strong." Ana looked at Riku. He smirked

"Come with me and you can find out." He offered his hand. Ana laughed at him in a light playful way. Riku's eyes were serious though and the sheer determination in them made the hair on the back of her neck stand up. She took this silence to her advantage.

"Riku, what's happening to me?" She asked. By the way his eyes changed from serious to conc-erned made her worry. The air in the jungle suddenly ran cold and it felt like a million ice sickles had pierced Ana's skin.

"It's nothing, you will be ok." He stammered out. Something told Ana differently

"Sora's been worried about you." Ana changed the subject. Riku laughed

"Why? He has new friends." Riku was sinister.

"Maybe you should just go and talk with him. It couldn't hurt much." Ana wasn't about to beg and plead but she knew talking to Sora might help.

"Yeah, right, whatever you say." He passed Ana off. She got up from where she was sitting and walked up to him, it was Riku's turn to get chills, she wasn't hesitant in her steps and she wouldn't willingly back down.

"You have no idea what we have been through so far! And I have a feeling that it's not going to be over anytime soon. You don't get to see the shit I do. You don't get to see the way Sora looks every time we leave another world and you and Kairi aren't there." Riku stood his ground as the small girl got closer to his face. She continued "You don't have to hear him ask for you in his sleep in the middle of the night or see the look of guilt on his face every time I get my ass kicked because I'm trying to keep him safe while he looks for you. So get off your damn high horse Riku!" Ana was yelling by the end, something had snapped in her and something had snapped in Riku.

He grabbed Ana tightly by her shoulders, making her very aware of her still healing burns. She was frightened by the cold gaze in his eyes, it didn't seem liked they belonged to him anymore. "You don't understand." He said

"I would if you told me. Let me go." Ana said glaring. Riku refused. Ana was getting tired of him standing there staring at her, and she was pretty sure his grip was making bruises. "Riku, your hurting me." This seemed to snap him halfway back to reality, he slightly released his grip but was still holding her.

"I can't talk to him. I just can't. I have to find Kairi." He said quietly. Ana put her hand on his face. It was then he saw the burns inflicted on her. A perfect spiral winding up her arm. He let her go. "What happened to you?" He asked. Ana was almost convinced that he was worried. Almost

"Maleficent." Was all she said before anger returned to his face.

"Liar!" He said. Ana didn't back down. She wasn't scared of Riku. If anything she could relate to the feelings jumbled up in his head. It was him who backed away. "You're lying." He said in a flat voice. She could feel the hurt inside him, building more darkness.

"Believe what you want Riku, but be careful. I hope your loyalties don't lie in the wrong places." Ana's confidence started to waver when he opened a portal. It wasn't a shock, what he was about to say, but none the less, Riku was burning his bridges.

"Just wait until she finds you." He said as he stepped through the portal.

Ana stood there for what seemed like forever before she heard a gunshot.

"Damn it Sora." She said and took off in the direction of the blast.

It wasn't far from where she was that she met up with her group. Claytons pipe laid on the ground and a very pissed of Sabor was left in his place. "Good, maybe he ate the bastard." Ana said. Sora looked to her and smiled.

"That's not nice Ana." He said smiling. Ana smirked

"Let's take him out this time." Sabor ran at her and in one swift movement her keyblade was in her possession and Sabor was landing feet away from her. Sora was next; he flipped though the air and hit the Sabor square in the jaw. This seemed to piss him off even more. Donald was casting spells and Goofy was on the front line with his shield. Sabor jumped from rock to rock, avoiding any attack Donald would throw at him. He was getting faster.

"Come on duck. You can do better than that." Ana teased.

"Oh be quiet." He yelled.

"You are so polite!" She laughed. Cut short she had barely enough time to dodge out of the way of the cat. She flipped backwards and landed on all fours, the dirt rising around her. Sabor jumped through the dust, giving Ana no time to react. She held her arm out in front of her face as she was knocked over. The cat sunk his teeth into her arm and she cried in pain. His sharp claws dug deep into her shoulders and blood started flowing freely from her new wounds. She clenched her teeth, trying to focus on keeping herself as protected as possible.

"Ana!" It wasn't long before the Sabor was thrown off of her. Sora standing in its place, Keyblade at the ready. Sora hit it again and it fell over stunned. Ana sat up slowly and pushed herself against a rock as she watched Donald attack it with fire. She had to give him credit, he was good. Snarling, the Sabor stood again. Ana got up quickly, she was standing next to Sora.

"Are you sure you should be up?" He asked Ana.

"You think you can take this thing on just the three of you?"

"Well yeah." He said staring into her brown eyes

"Don't be silly. I was destined to do this remember? I kind of have to help. I would go insane sitting there watching you do all the fighting.." She said. Sora stared at her like she was already crazed. "Don't stare at me like that, you're making me feel like I'm already there." This made Sora laugh. Ana.

They both charged the Sabor at the same time. Ana flipped over him and attacked him from behind while Sora took the front. Sabor took another swipe at Sora but she quickly deflected it, and hit him in the head, He then turned around and smacked the Sabor again. Ana continued to attack the back. It turned to her again. "Here kitty kitty. She said. The Sabor lunged at her and she blocked it counter attacking. She quickly fell to her knees and swiped the Sabors feet from under him. A quick shock from Donald and Goofy and he was down for the count. Sora was right behind her and stabbed the cat in the heart. The battle was over.

Sora Donald and Goofy all cheered in triumph, Ana stood and met her friends. She was feeling dizzy. She grabbed Sora's arm for support and her knees fell out from under her. Sora caught her in his arms. She could hear the panic in his voice as the world slowly spun out of control she saw a dark figure from behind a tree disappear. _Riku_

She woke in darkness _great, just what I needed, my weekly visit to the dark side_ she thought. Hearing a voice in the background Ana was silent again. It was far off, like a whisper in the wind.

_**Your back again **_

It was the voice again. _I have a feeling we are going to be good friends. _Ana said

_**Your friends await your presence. Are you ready?**_

_As ready as I will ever be…. Hey, do you know what's happening to me?" _Ana asked the voice

_**Don't lose sight of the light**_

Ana jolted awake, quickly regretting it. Pain shot up her arm and into her shoulder. She was back in the tent.

"Take it easy." She heard Donald say. "I just tried to heal you, you need to give yourself time to recover."

"You healed me?" Ana asked

"You sound so surprised." He said. Ana looked down at her bandaged body.

"But-" she was cut off

"I can only heal so much." Donald was trying to sound offended. But Ana knew that he was happy she was conscious.

"He stopped the bleeding; now the rest is up to you." Goofy said beaming. Ana looked at Sora, She actually thought she saw tears in his eyes.

"Did you guys actually think I was going to die?" Ana asked. Her friends didn't answer and she rolled her eyes. "No faith, you have no faith in me. I'm not going to give up that easy." She said "Where is Jane?" Ana asked.

"She went missing." Donald informed her.

"So why aren't you guys out there looking for her?" Ana asked matter- of-factly. Sora looked at her dumbfounded

"Why don't you think?" He crossed his arms. Ana stared him down.

"Because some Key brat almost went and got herself killed." Donald gave her a blunt answer. Ana shook her head "

"Nope, no faith whatsoever." She sighed

It took some convincing but Ana eventually got the boys on their way, with her tagging behind. Tarzan had seemed worried that Jane and his friend Turk had been taken near the tree house.

"Yay, more tree climbing." Ana said sarcastically.

"Should we stop and rest?" Sora was worried.

"No no, let's just get this over with." Ana said "I can hold my own." _Damn him. He's too nice. _ And thought to herself. Where she came from, being nice could be a real let down, especially in such a broken world. Words would get twisted, and a simple act of kindness could be just enough to push them over the edge. Ana turned her dark thoughts towards her friends. She hoped that they didn't become heartless because in all actuality, they were the string that held her world together.

Ana was snapped from her thoughts when Goofy nudged her "Sorry to disturb your thoughts but I think we are here." He said kindly. Once again, kindness. Ana turned to Goofy

"Thanks friend." She smiled. A couple more trees up and they had found the missing people.

"Tarzan!" Jane yelled. They were entangled in vines, and no matter how hard Tarzan tried, he couldn't break them.

"I think those black blobs are holding the whole contraption together." Ana said sitting down.

"I know the perfect way to get rid of them." Sora summoned his Key. Ana smiled once again

"They are all yours." She said. Donald looked at her like she was in her right mind. Something she had never seen him do before. She knew he was glad that she hadn't put his healing to waste.

"Don't even start with me duck man. Sora can handle black blobs by himself." And Ana was right. In no time Jane and Turk were free and they were on their way back to camp.

Another gun shot. Ana sighed, knowing what this was all leading to. She looked at Sora and nodded, both took off in the direction of the shot. What they came upon this time didn't shock them. Clayton was surrounded by heartless, but when they arrived, he ran off. Leaving the four to fend for themselves. Tarzan could sense something bad in him but what he was saying didn't make sense. Ana on the other hand could feel the darkness taking over his heart.

Summoning their blades Sora and Ana ran after the heartless. Ana was tripped before she even got into battle. As she looked up, aggravation was written all over her face. "You're not ready yet." Donald said crossing his arms.

"But-" Ana was cut off, she hated being cut off

"No, we got this." He said. Ana sulked away. She couldn't believe she was taking orders from the duck. Goofy looked at her with pity as she sat down by a near tree. Every time Sora was hit she cringed. She had to fight every instinct in her not to go out there and help him.

It was too late by the time she sensed his presence. Ana was scooped up before she had the chance to even scream. She tried to look at her captor but was almost immediately knocked out. She fell limp in the man's arms and he laughed maliciously.

Ana woke to see she was strung up in vines and looking down on Clayton and his new pet. How original.

"Lovely lizard you got there." she said still groggy.

"So your awake, that was sooner than expected." He said getting up on the giant heartless

"Yeah well, you can't keep a bitch down I guess." Ana smirked. For the situation she was in she felt fairly relaxed. "Can I take a ride on the pony too? I've always wanted a pony." Ana said with little expression.

Clayton laughed at her." Maybe after the heartless consume you."

"That's a bummer. For some reason I don't think that's going to happen anytime soon." She said. He looked confused

"And why is that?"

"Because I have a couple friends you see, and kidnapping me would have pissed them off royally." Ana retorted

"And what makes you think they aren't dead already?" Clayton seemed so sure of himself. Ana almost felt bad for him.

"Because Sora has a big heart, and he's not the kind of person to back down to a couple heartless. And as much as I hate to admit it, our friends would die before they let anything happen to us."

"Couldn't have said it better myself." Ana heard Donald say. She cracked a smile

"Are you ok up there?" came Goofy

"Yeah, I'm just getting sick of hanging around.

"That can be fixed." Sora ran up behind his friends

"You think I'm going to let her go that easy? You have to get past my heartless first." Clayton turned in their direction

"Bring it on." Sora said determination in his eyes. Ana watched helplessly from the vines. She was getting tired of sitting by idly. Sora and his friends defeated the surrounding heartless and Donald summoned thunder in order to free Ana. The vines broke and she fell the few feet that she was suspended in the air, landing in a crouch. The heartless that Clayton had been sitting on turned invisible.

"That's not fair. Ana said jumping down from the rocks and joining Sora.

"There is no such thing." Clayton retorted

"Not Clayton. %&$ " Tarzan said. Ana and Sora gave him a weird look but before they could say anything both were knocked to the ground. Scrambling to their feet, they barely had time to dodge away from Clayton and the heartless.

When they got back to their feet and looked around they found nothing. Ana and Sora ended up back to back, Keyblades at the ready. "Why does trouble always seem to follow you?" Ana asked Sora

"Me? I thought it was following you." Sora laughed

"No, darkness seems to be a fan of mine."

"Same difference."

"No it's not." Ana argued. Seconds later Clayton appeared floating in midair, charging into battle. Sora threw his Keyblade at the monster and flipped Ana over his back, in turn she landed another blow to it. Clayton looked upset as his lizard turned back to normal, giving his enemies the upper hand, but nothing prepared them for what happened next.

"Holy hell, get out of the way Sora!" Ana landed on top of him, both almost incinerated by the laser beams.

"I don't remember reptiles being able to shoot beams." Sora said getting up

"Ya me either. RUN!" Ana said pushing him along as the Stealth Sneak recharged his beam and shot it again. Sora looked back and saw that the heartless was slowing down. He grabbed Ana's hand and stopped her.

"Look. He's tired now." Sora ran back to the monster and began wailing on him with his Keyblade, Donald and Goofy joining. Ana saw it coming before they did. The Stealth Sneak jumped over the three and into the trees. The hair on Ana's neck stood on end and more heartless appeared.

"Does it ever end?" Ana rolled her eyes taking out a heartless.

"I think its kind of fun." Sora responded, Ana stopped to look at him

"How the hell do you find almost being fried to death fun?" She yelled.

"Ana look out behind- " Sora went to warn her but with one small swing of the blade, the heartless was gone, and Ana was still staring at Sora. "Impressive." He smirked with a goofy smile

"Yeah well, fighting heartless is much easier than protecting you." Ana said fighting off another rabid monkey heartless. "Hey where is- "

"Clayton?" Sora finished her sentence, looking behind Ana. Having no time to respond, the invisible creature threw Ana and Sora against a giant rock, knocking the breath out of both of them. Ana grabbed Sora's hand and squeezed it hard until he started breathing again.

"Move!" Donald said. It was Sora's turn to push Ana out of the way and the heartless rounded on him. The panic in Ana set in again and before she knew what was happening she was in front of the hearless, fending it off with her blade. Darkness swirled around it.

"Hurry up Sora, I can't hold this thing off forever." She gritted her teeth. Sora jumped to his feet and sent fire his way. Ana rolled out of the way and the fire hit the heartless in the face, turning him normal again. "That was close!" Ana said to Sora

"You're faster than that. I knew you would be ok." Sora said hacking away at the heartless. Ana rolled her eyes and landed a blow to Clayton. In a matter of minutes the heartless and Clayton were gone. Ana stood there for a minute. The darkness seemed to flow out of her in a matter of seconds. Once again she forgot how to breath and her heart raced. Sora collapsed to the ground panting, when the breath finally returned to Ana she followed suit.

"I think we are out of shape." Sora said falling over on his back looking up at the sky. Ana joined him, catching her breath.

"I did most of the ass kicking. I don't see how you're so tired." Ana looked in Sora's eyes. "Shit." She said trying to get up, but was too late. Sora landed on her and started tickling her. "NO NO STOP!" she managed to get out through breathes.

Sora stopped and stood over her offering his hand. Ana took it. "Yep, I let you do all the work. No use in getting tired when I have a guardian to do it." He said smiling. Ana knew he was kidding but she bit her lip anyways. She never asked to protect someone.

Sora, Ana, Donald, and Goofy found themselves up in the vines, a beautiful water fall running down the rocks.

"Tarzan home." Tarzan said as they entered the water fall cavern.

"Your home, then that means." Sora said sadly. Jane entered

"$# % Friends here, see?"

"Oh, %^$% must mean heart." Jane said Tarzan nodded "Friends in out heart."

"Friends same heart. Clayton no heart."

Ana took Sora's hand and gave it a squeeze. "We will find them." She whispered.

"Yeah." He said amd squeezed her hand before letting it go and putting on a smile. A soft blue light glowed in front of them and it took the shape of a key hole.

"Go on, lock it." Ana said. Sora raised his Keyblade and sealed the door from the heartless.

"Hey look, a gummi!" Donald said picking up the block that came from the keyhole.

"But that's not the kings." Goofy said

"Well there is only one person who would know what kind of block this is." Sora crossed his arms

"Back to Traverse town?" Ana guessed. Her three friends nodded their heads

MEANWHILE

"What drew the Heartless to that world?" Jafar asked in the shadows

"The hunter lured them there. It was his lust for power that was the

bait. But it seems the bait was too tasty for his own good." The evil witch responded

Oogie Boogie laughed "Yeah, he got chomped instead!"

" A weak-hearted fool like him stood no chance against the Heartless. But

the boy and his friends are a problem is a problem. He found one of the Keyholes." Jafar said

"Fear not. It will take him ages to find the rest. Not long from now, the girl will be on our side"

Maleficent reveals Sora's group's image in the table."Besides, he remains blissfully unaware of our other plan."

"Yes, the princesses..."

"They are falling into our hands, one by one. Speaking of which..." An image of Alice appeared on the table.

BACK AT CAMP

"Well, guess we better get going." Sora said. Ana knew he had to much fun swinging around in the jungle

" Sora, Tarzan, friends." Tarzan said. Sora smiled at him and Sora got a new attachment for his Keyblade.

"Why don't I get those?" Ana asked

"Because, your not the Keyblade master." Sora said sticking out his tongue

"Must I remind this said Keyblade master that if it wasn't for me he could very possibly be dying in the jungle right now?" Ana said

"No, I think he gets it." Sora put his arms behind his head. They said their goodbyes and headed back for the ship.

"How are you feeling? Sora asked Ana who was walking slowly behind him

"I'm perfectly great!" Ana said lying enthusiastically

"Good, I was worried you were getting weak." Sora smirked. Slowing down to set pace with her. Before Ana could protest Sora hoisted her up on his back. "For being so strong, you sure are light." He said to her

"Yeah, yeah." She responded.

"You know, I don't know what I would do without you." Sora said softly. But Ana had fallen asleep. "And your not a very good liar." He laughed to himself

Sora took Ana to a small room on the ship that had a bed in it and laid her down. He watched her sleep for a few minutes and then slowly closed the door behind him as he left the room.

" The gummi block that came out of that glowing hole. It's not like the

others. Wonder what it's used for." Sora said stretching

"I dunno." Donald said

"I bet Leon'll know." Goofy said with a chuckled

"Well, lets get back to Traverse Town." Donald said

"I wanna be pilot!" Sora said loudly grabbing the controls again

"Hey, stop it!"

"Oh, come on! I'm the Keyblade master".

"I don't care who you are! No!" Donald said flatly.

"Here we go again..." Goofy was stuck in the middle again.

**Sorry for the wait. I know I'm horrible at updating, and I know you people are still out there! I watch the traffic on my story. Reviews are appreciated, I'd like to get better at what I do and I value your opinions. No flames though. If you cant be mature enough to review sensibly then your not worth my time. Hope you enjoyed. Traverse Town up next**


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